AMC's The Walking Dead Season 1 Discussion & Spoilers

[RJDiogenes]

Then why don't you tell us what sci-fi is and isn't?

Science Fiction is when a story explores the effects of science or extrapolated science (or applied science, i.e. technology) on people or society. Informally, "sci fi" can refer to anything with the trappings of Science Fiction, such Space Opera or Steampunk.

Once again, the point goes zooming right over your head. The amount of watchable genre shows - or any shows - on TV is so miniscule that I'll gladly watch a sci fi show that you can call fantasy or horror or a rutabaga. Quibbles about terminology may be briefly amusing but in the end, of no importance at all.

I guess I am missing the point. Are you saying you watch Walking Dead because there's nothing else on that you like? Or that TV is so bad that it makes you lose your grasp of English? I don't see how using accurate terminology is quibbling-- if you like something, why be afraid to call it what it is?

Right, so I guess you are telepathic then. You don't have a flippin' clue how many viewers categorize the show in this or that way, or any way. What a load of unadulterated baloney!

No, I'm not telepathic and it's not baloney. I just have a basic grasp of how people think. We're not talking about rocket science here-- or even rocket science fiction.

The mundanes = the vast majority of viewers. So most viewers do think of a zombie show as "sci fi." You just invalidated your own argument!

Hardly, unless you think that voting is involved somehow. If most people think that Humans and Dinosaurs co-existed (probably because they've seen that old "Science Fiction" show The Flintstones ), they're still wrong.

Not according to TV Guide, and TV Guide knows all!

TV Guide is hilarious. They did a special magazine about Star Trek a few years ago, and their descriptions in the episode guide cracked me up. Their view of "Requiem For Methuselah" was something along the lines of, "The costumes were nice, but they should have ditched the sub-plot about the android."

 

[Silvercrest]

That reminds me of the description that a local paper ran in their programming guide (back when they had those). "The crew encounters an exact duplicate of the Enterprise floating in space." The episode? "The Tholian Web".

I mean, yeah, technically the description is correct, but it totally misses what the episode is about.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, exactly. If that was the sub-plot, I can't imagine what they thought the main plot was.

 

[Gepard]

A co-worker's been encouraging me to watch this; I just found out today from him that Bear McCreary does the music, so my interest has pretty much tripled. I was going to check out the thread to see what people have been saying, but having skipped to the last page, I have to ask: is this another thread that's been hijacked by RJ being insufferable again?

 

[PsychoPere]

^ If it helps in making your decision, the majority consensus has been "very good" to "great" so far, with of course one or two opinions to the contrary.

 

[sojourner]

A co-worker's been encouraging me to watch this; I just found out today from him that Bear McCreary does the music, so my interest has pretty much tripled. I was going to check out the thread to see what people have been saying, but having skipped to the last page, I have to ask: is this another thread that's been hijacked by RJ being insufferable again?

There is a side conversation about "what is SF" going on, but the posts are easy to recognize and avoid.

 

[RJDiogenes]

A co-worker's been encouraging me to watch this; I just found out today from him that Bear McCreary does the music, so my interest has pretty much tripled. I was going to check out the thread to see what people have been saying, but having skipped to the last page, I have to ask: is this another thread that's been hijacked by RJ being insufferable again?

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I love listening to Andrew Lincoln's real accent in the behind the scenes segment on AMC.com. I finally realized where I'd seen him before, in the movie "Love Actually."

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I gotta sudden hankering to do some fishing...

 

[SG-17]

Why do they expect there to be fish and frogs in a quarry lake?

 

[Dorian Thompson]

That--was excellent. When they were protecting the older people and they all were so respectful of abuela....I loved it. A custodian can be noble. Loved the killer dogs.

But the ending.

 

[Zachary Smith]

The question in my mind right now is whether Merle is somehow responsible for the attack . . .

 

[PsychoPere]

I really liked the way things turned out with the "gang" - I wasn't expecting anything along those lines before the old woman showed up in the middle of the stand-off. The attack on the camp was where I was expecting the season to end and I'm glad to have been wrong, because I didn't want to wait for season two to see reactions from the survivors. Even knowing it was coming at some point, that attack was damned brutal. I also liked the symmetry between opening the episode with Andrea and Amy on the lake, and ending the episode with them as well.

"Vatos," by the way, was written by Robert Kirkman himself, the creator of the comics series.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

What could he have done? Driven the zombies there himself? It would take a little more time than that for them to stagger up the hill if they were following him in the van, wouldn't it? Wouldn't Merle be putting his brother at risk by doing that?

 

[sojourner]

I don't remember the sister dying that soon in the comics??? Still an excellent episode.

 

[Trek4Ever]

I haven't read the comic in years so I forgot how faithful the show is to the first few issues. I don't remember Rick and company going back to Atlanta. Can anyone with a fresher memory compare notes?

 

[MilleniumLance]

Amy died in the 5th issue sojourner

 

[sojourner]

^of the comic or the graphic novels?

 

[MilleniumLance]

comic

 

[Silvercrest]

I really liked the way things turned out with the "gang" - I wasn't expecting anything along those lines before the old woman showed up in the middle of the stand-off.

Me too, that was really cool.

Though it occurred to me after watching that the "vatos" must really have their hands full. Trying to maintain a bunch of old and people under those conditions, you're going to have a high death rate. You'd have to patrol the halls and monitor the rooms constantly to keep from getting overrun from within. And you'd have to have some organized method to get rid of the bodies-- I can't see beating in someone's skull and splattering the walls while they're still in their room. Not if you want to keep all the other patients peaceful.

And these are your relatives! How do you deal with that?